The Eleanor Crosses - Destinations UK Destinations UK Rent a Castle Whether it's a folly for 2 or a fort for 20, try our castles for rent page. The first queen of Edward I would perhaps have been completely forgotten had it not been for her husband’s dramatic memorials to her that were erected following her death in 1290. These were the beautiful ‘Eleanor Crosses’ …the most famous one giving Charing Cross in London its name. Eleanor of Castile was only ten when she left her mother country Spain and arrived in England in 1254 to marry Edward (also known as Longshanks). As she was so very young at the time of their marriage, Edward went off for a few years, indulging in his favourite pastimes of war, tournaments and more war. He must have stopped fighting occasionally as they produced sixteen children before she became queen, her first child being born when she was 20 years old! Edward’s life was full of warfare and after a successful campaign in Wales , he then turned his attention to Scotland .

He wrote to Eleanor asking her to join him in the north, but she was taken ill on the journey and died in a little village called Harby in Nottinghamshire . Edward was devastated and rushed back south to make arrangements for her funeral. Her body had to be taken back to Westminster in stages, and Edward had a beautiful memorial cross erected in each of the stopping places. In all there were twelve of these: Lincoln , Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham, Cheapside, and the best known of all, Charing, then a little village near Westminster and nowadays named after the cross, Charing Cross. Today only those at Geddington, Hardingstone near Northampton and Waltham Cross still remain. The Eleanor Cross in the village of Geddington, just off the A43 between Corby and Kettering, is original and maintained by English Heritage. The cross is situated off the main road by the church and close to the pretty 12th century bridge and ford over the River Ise.

In London, the tall monument that stands in the forecourt of the Charing Cross railway station is a Victorian replica of the one that originally stood at the top of Whitehall. The site in Whitehall is now occupied by a statue of Charles I on horseback. Both images - Geddington Cross, Northampton It appears that Edward really loved his wife, as he ordered that two wax candles were to burn for all time beside her tomb in Westminster Abbey. They burned for two and half centuries, and were extinguished only at the time of the Reformation. Now that sounds like love in any language. Below is a map of the route and location of the crosses: Eleanor Crosses Eleanor Crosses Eleanor Cross, Geddington, Northamptonshire Have you heard of Charing Cross, in London? Most people know it as a major train and underground station, and more recently through the popular book and movie "84 Charing Cross Road". But the "Cross" in question has a fascinating and romantic history. Charing Cross was one of 12 "Eleanor Crosses" erected by a disconsolate Edward I when his wife Queen Eleanor of Castile died in 1290.

Eleanor bore Edward 16 children in an unusually happy union for that period of arranged marriages. There is a legend that Eleanor once saved Edward's life by sucking the poison from a wound he received while fighting in the Holy Land. This tale is unlikely to be true; it did not appear until well after the couple were dead, but it does show the extent to which their devotion to each other was known. Another view of the Geddington Eleanor cross When Eleanor died at Harby, near Lincoln, in November 1290, a grief-stricken Edward ordered her embalmed, and her entrails were buried at Lincoln Cathedral. Her body was then carried in a somber procession to Westminster Abbey in London. At each place where the procession stopped for the night, Edward had built a memorial cross in her honour. Today only the crosses at Waltham Cross (Hertfordshire), Geddington, and Hardingstone (both Northamptonshire) remain, and the cross at Charing is remembered only in the name Charing Cross.

The locations of the 12 crosses were as follows: Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St Albans, Waltham, Westcheap, and Charing. During the 19th and early 20th centuries several fake Eleanor Crosses were erected, notably at Ilam, Walkden (Lancashire), Sledmere (Yorkshire), and Queensbury. The cross at Charing is a highly imaginative reconstruction of the original 13th century structure. Related: Queen Eleanor Crosses - Bob Speel's Website Queen Eleanor Crosses There have been many tellings of the story and survival of the Eleanor Crosses, but it is justified to write something on these pages from a sculptural point of view. By way of brief background, the story of Queen Eleanor is a touching and romantic one. Eleanor of Castile was married to the future Edward I when he was 15 and she but 10, a political marriage to end the enmity between King Henry III and Alphonso of Spain.

She grew up in France before being united with her husband in 1265, when she was able to settle in England. Unusually for a marriage of state, perhaps, they fell deeply in love with one another. Eleanor travelled with Edward on Crusade in 1270, nursing him to health when he was wounded by an assassination attempt in Acre. After a sojourn in France, the couple returned to England for Edward to be crowned King in 1273, after the death of Henry III. The absence of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales from the coronation was the signal for a long war to put down his insurrection, leading eventually to his death � hence �Llewellyn the last�. Some years of peace followed, until in 1290 the youthful Queen of Scotland died. Edward, sensing opportunity, went northwards, with Eleanor coming at slower pace behind as she had done on previous campaigns. He reached the Scottish borders to hear that his queen had caught a fever while travelling near Grantham, Lincolnshire, and immediately put aside his Scottish adventure to ride back to her � only to find she had died, aged just 47.

It took 13 days for the funeral procession to reach London, and at each stage where they rested, the King ordered a cross be erected in memory of Eleanor � the Eleanor Crosses. There seem to have been up to 15 such stops, and the precise route of the procession, and the number of crosses, is not certain. They have been supposed to be at Hardeby, Lincoln, Newark, Leicester, Geddington, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Dunstable, St Albans, Waltham, Cheapside, and Charing by Westminster. An alternative account supposes Stamford and Grantham itself rather than Newark and Leicester, and Woburn has also been suggested. Regardless, three crosses survive, at Geddington, near Kettering in Northamptonshire, at Hardingstone near Northampton (this site has a separate page on other sculptural interest in Northampton ), and at Waltham . On these crosses, in total we have 10 statues of Eleanor, in various poses and drapery.

At the end of the journey, though the monuments have gone, we have some account and illustration of the crosses at Cheapside and Charing Cross, and the effigy of Queen Eleanor in Westminster Abbey remains today. The Eleanor Cross at Geddington, near Kettering in Northamptonshire It is a triangular cross, raised on eight steps, with three storeys, standing 42 ft high overall. A description in the early Victorian era noted that the solid lowest section had on each face six panels, entirely carved with ornamental sculpture, and with the shield of arms of England, Castile, Leon, and Ponthieu. Above this are castellations, then a pillared second storey with canopies within which are three statues of the queen, somewhat obscured by pillars. The statues show the Queen as �very beautiful, clothed in a long flowing robe, and a veil which descends to her shoulders, over which is a coronet, the flowers of which are now quite effaced.

The air of the head in these figures is graceful, and drapery falls with natural though too minute folds, and the hands and feet are well drawn.� The statues were seen as bearing so great a resemblance to those of the Italian school �that it is likely that Edward had artists of that nation in his service.� The third level had an assemblage of slender pinnacles and finials ornamented with oak leaves and flowers at top. The summit had already been lost, but presumably consisted of a spire and cross. The stone is of local origin, and while indeed graceful, the pose of the figures is rather straight and stiff. The Eleanor Cross at Hardingstone, near Northampton It consists of three stories, the first octagonal, 14ft high, with arches on each side, each of these being divided into two by a mullion, with shields of coats of arms � Leon and Castile, England and Ponthieu. Below each are high relief sculptures of a book on a desk. The second level, some 12 ft high, is octagonal, and bears four deep niches with figures of Queen Eleanor, each 6ft high, and crowned.

There are, or were, traces of a sceptre in her right hand, while the left is denuded but presumably either held a globe or lay on her breast. The third, upper level of the monument is square, 8ft high, with more Gothic arches. A restoration of 1713 added a sundial, a new cross on top, and a marble tablet to commemorate the changes, leading to the cross later being lamented as �much disfigured by the repairs executed by officious and ignorant individuals�. Records of the Eleanor Trustees record that the sculptor was a certain William of Ireland, a mason-carver. But there were five, rather than four figures carved in 1292 and �sent down to the cross at Northampton and elsewhere�. The figures are more lively than the Geddington Eleanors, both in the pose, which is more naturalistic, and in the complexity and hang of the draperies, which can be linked to other medieval work at Salisbury Cathedral and elsewhere. See this page for more pictures. Waltham Cross Waltham Cross, before and after restoration.

The figures on the Eleanor Cross at Waltham are considered the finest (those on the Cross today are replicas, the originals having been placed in the Victoria & Albert Museum), and are closely allied in their naturalistic style to those of Northampton. The Eleanor Trustees records state that the carver was Alexander of Abingdon, mentioned also as having supplied figures of bronze, and also responsible for the Charing Cross figures. Alexander of Abingdon was a goldsmith, a caster in bronze and an imager, a maker of church figures. The following description of her is from the 1840s: �The drapery of the figures � an under-gown, or kirle, made high in the neck, with close sleeves, fell in graceful and easy folds to the feet, forming a train. Over this was worn a robe with full fur sleeves. �Her neck and shoulders unencumbered with a gorget [balaclava-like head covering], and only ornamented by the wavy ringlets of her beautiful hair.� Note also the bend to the leg, giving a curve of pose similar to, but more subtle, than the Northampton figures. These are the figures of Queen Eleanor shown at the top of this page.

All very fitting - Eleanor and Edward, according to Strickland�s Lives of the Queens of England, encouraged sculpture, architecture and casting in brass and bronze, and an increase in woodcarving, including by patronising and inducing foreign artists to come to England, amongst whom was Cavallini. Waltham Cross was rather damaged by carriages and encroachment of houses to the point where a roof from one house was said to have leaned against one of the statues of the Queen. The cross was repaired after the Society of Antiquaries called attention to its poor condition, and the local gentry subscribed to repair and restore it, this work being done some while later to the design and under the direction of WB Clarke. So much for the surviving Eleanor Crosses. We have a good account of the two in London: Eleanor Cross in West Cheap [later Cheapside]. Two views of Cheapside Cross. Cheapside Cross (West Cheap cross) stood in middle of road facing Wood Street,and was built in 1290 by Master Michael, a mason of Canterbury. Again with three levels, in this case each supported by 8 slender columns.

The lowest story was suggested as 20 ft high, with the upper storeys of ten and six ft high. It was surmised that the lower storey originally had a statue of a contemporary pope, with above, the four apostles, and the Virgin and child. Highest of all were four standing figures of Queen Eleanor, and above that, the cross with a dove. These features can be discerned in the first view above. A rebuild of 1441 added a drinking fountain, and some wooden structure around the old cross, covered with lead and gilt � this is perhaps the structure shown in Ralph Aggas�s Map. Further alterations followed, but from the time of Elizabeth, it was attacked, as other crosses were elsewhere, for its Popish imagery. First the Virgin was denuded of her child, and other sculpture on the monument, described as being of the Resurrection, Christ and Edward the Confessor, were mutilated. After further repairs, to the Virgin at least, that figure was apparently replaced for a time by the Goddess Diana, �a woman for the most part naked, and water, conveyed from the Thames, filtering from her naked breasts, but oftentime dried up�.

A further restoration, with the Popish images replaced by effigies of �apostles, Kings and Prelates and iron railings added (above right), did not suffice, and the monument was attacked again after 1641 and finally pulled down in 1647, �and the leaden figures of the prelates burnt�. A contemporary publication adds that it was built of �lead, iron and stone. Some say that divers of the crowns and sceptres are of silver, besides the rich gold that [it] was gilded with�. Three or four oft-reproduced and re-engraved views survive. And a couple of fragments showing the coats of arms are in the collections of the London Museum. Charing Cross Views of Charing Cross, various sources, perhaps freely copied from each other. Charing Cross � the name itself has been suggested as being from �Chere reine�, Edward I�s term of endearment for Eleanor, though others, less sentimental and perhaps with more of the right of it, say �Charing� came from an Anglo-Saxon word referring to a turn of the road.

The cross stood not where the 19th Century one is, but where Charles I now stands to the south side of Trafalgar Square. The first cross was originally of wood, but then built in stone by Richard de Crundale, and after his death by a son or brother, Roger de Crundale, though the statues of Eleanor, I think, were by Alexander of Abingdon. The structure was made from Caen stone, with steps of smooth marble. It was based on an octagonal design, thus with eight figures of Eleanor on an upper stage, and the most elaborate of the Eleanor crosses. Parliament voted to pull it down in 1643, and demolition took place in 1647. Apparently some of the stone was used in pavings in Whitehall. The Victorian Charing Cross was the work of the architect E. M. Barry, and the not particularly well known Thomas Earp was the sculptor. The design was loosely based on the extant images of the old cross, and thereby has several tiers, and an octagonal symmetry, to give eightm statues of Queen Eleanor at the third level.

If anything, the architect has made the structure even more vertiginous than the surviving medieval crosses, and there is of course more ornament, including extra figures in the form of the small angels kneeling below the statues of the Queen against each pillar. So far as Earp's statues go, each Queen Eleanor is different, but slightly so, and the richness of the folds in the drapery is more than the medieval figures. The pose is standing fairly straight, with the head leaning forward slightly, so as to make something of a connection with the viewers below, and imparting a certain chasteness and modesty to the subject; a sense of piety exudes from the whole. 1880s view of the Victorian Charing Cross, and two of Earp's Queen Eleanors.

Regarding the other medieval Eleanor Crosses, only the smallest fragments and short descriptions exist, and we shall not linger on them, but just note two of examples: Stukely, Secretary to the Society of Antiquarians, wrote in 1757 that the cross at Grantham �stood in the open place in the London road; and I saw a stone carved with foliage work, and said to be part of it, and I believe it, seeming to that sort of work�; and an account of Stamford written in 1646 referred to of �an ancient cross of freestone, of a very curious fabric, having many scutcheons insculpted in the stone about it, as the arms of Castile and Leon quartered, being the paternal coat of the King of Spain; and divers other hatchments beloinging to that crown, which envious Time hath so defaced that only the ruins appear to my eye, and therefore are not the be described by my pen.

This cross was called Queen�s Cross, and erected by King Edward I in memory of Eleanor his wife.� The Effigy of Eleanor of Castile in Westminster Abbey Although not the subject of this page, we may note that William Torel was the sculptor of the bronze Queen Eleanor effigy in Westminster Abbey, and in 1291 was paid �113, 6s, 8d, according to the Eleanor Trustees� accounts, for this statue, that of King Henry III, and another figure at Lincoln � this last was a second bronze of Queen Eleanor, destroyed by Parliamentarians in the usual way. However, some small portion of the chapel in which the effigy lay still remains at the East end of the Choir in the cathedral � alas, I did not know to look for it the last time I visited. The surviving Westminster Abbey Eleanor is �a beautiful figure of the Queen, of copper [described also as �brass� or bronze elsewhere] gilt, on a tablet of the same. The left hand, laid lightly on the breast, holds the collar; while the right falls gracefully on the drapery, and perhaps held the sceptre.

The head is adorned with a coronet of fleur-de-lis and trefoils, under which the hair falls in ringlets. The drapery consists of a close tunic and mantle, the latter spreading from the shoulders, meeting again about the knees and covering the feet.� The drapery, we may remark, has been strongly linked to earlier medieval figures in stone in a style popular in the south-west of the country, at the cathedrals of Exeter, Salisbury and Lichfield. The Eleanor Cross, Charing Cross, London The Eleanor Cross Charing Cross Road, London Source Illustrated London News The long article that surrounds the engraving has interest for at least half a dozen reasons, not least of which is its history of Queen Eleanor’s memorials, their relation to royal finances, and the legendary and authentic sources of the name “Charing.” It provides a good dose of medieval history, including a summary biography of Eleanor, and tells us the names of the Victorian architect, sculptor, and builders as well as what is known of the medieval ones, explaining the monument’s relation to the Charing Cross railway hotel.

It also reports a somewhat bizarre argument with the Hungerford family, who wanted the refurbished (or re-created) monument named after them and who criticized the paper for providing the public with their family history “‘darkened with tragic mysteries and wild eccentricities,’ such as the stories of the wife of the house executed at Tyburn, for, as our correspondent terms it, the ‘aristocratic crime’ of poisoning her husband, and of the extravagant knight who paid five hundred guineas for a Court wig.” The Hungerfords should have known it's unwise to argue with mass media. Make sure you compare the engraving at left to modern photographs of the Eleanor Cross. Which makes it seem larger? — George P. Landow Click on image to enlarge it and mouse over text for links You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Digital Library Trust and the University of Michigan and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. — George P.

Landow ] Article accompanying the illustration The very beautiful cross, the erection of which before the new Charing Cross Hotel ( image ) is just completed, and of which we give an Engraving, is designed as a restoration of a most interesting historical memorial. In what was once the village of Charing, and on the spot now occupied by the statue of King Charles, was erected the last, and by far the most costly, of the twelve crosses which marked the resting-places of the funeral procession which conveyed the body of Queen Eleanor, wife of Edward I., from the house of Robert de Weston, at Hardby, in Nottinghamshire, where she died, to her tomb in Westminster Abbey. The resting-places, we may observe, were for the most part arranged to bo at religious houses, where services could be performed over the body at night. The cross at Charing, like so many other precious monuments of the art of the Middle Ages, was swept away by iconoclastic Puritan bigotry in 1647, but its memory was preserved in the word “cross” still retained for the site added to the proper name of the locality.

Of the twelve original crosses only three remain — those of Waltham, Northampton, and Geddington; butt these are amongst the most perfect and beautiful examples of Gothic art at the best period, and drew the warmest eulogy from the classic Flaxman . It speaks well also for the fertility of invention of their producers that they differ widely in design and character. The artistic interest of the Eleanor crosses, and also of the exquisitely sculptured effigy of the Queen on her tomb in Westminster Abbey, is greatly enhanced by the fact, ascertained on the discovery of the accounts rendered to the Queen’s executors, that (with one possible exception) the producers of these admirable works were in all probability English artists. Vertue and Walpole conjectured that the Eleanor crosses were designed by Pietro Cavallini, who, it was supposed, hud been brought from Rome either by the Abbot of Ware or the King himself; and “Torel,” the sculptor of the latten effigy on the tomb, was long believed to be the Italian artist Torelli. But dates and documents are alike against these assumptions, and Torel doubtless belonged to a family named in records from the days of the Confessor.

Only one name rendered in the “accounts” employed on the crosses is foreign — i. e., Dymenge de Legeri. The memorials of Queen Eleanor, then, like the sculpture of Wells and Lincoln cathedrals, show us English native work, which, on comparison, will be found at least equal to that much-vaunted contemporary sculpture of Pisa in which we trace the earliest style of the Renaissance. A most interesting discussion has lately taken place respecting the evidence for the popular tradition that the Eleanor crosses were erected by command of the King, as monuments of his conjugal affection. By-the-way, probably originating in this popular belief was the fanciful derivation of the name “Charing” from the French words chère Reine, “dear or beloved Queen” — “ fanciful,” we say, because the village of Charing is mentioned in records dating earlier than the erection of the cross. But the popular belief to which we have referred has itself been disputed since the discovery, about twenty years ago, of the already-mentioned accounts for the erection of all the memorials. These accounts were rendered to the Queen’s executors, foremost among whom was, naturally, the King himself.

Hence it has by recent writ ere been inferred tlmt because the cost of them was defrayed from the Queen’s own funds, therefore they were erected in pursuance of her own wishes. Edward himself, be it remembered, was at the time enormously in debt to the money-lending companies of Lombardy, and greatly embarrassed how to find money to prosecute the war with Scotland. Mr. Abel, author of “Memorials of Queen Eleanor” (an interesting work, embellished with photographs of the existing crosses, most admirably executed by Mr. Robert Hayward, of Finchley), favours the popular tradition, which is almost consecrated by an uninterrupted existence of more than 500 years; for the tradition first appears in Thomas of Walsingham’s Chronicles, some of which were written within one hundred years of the completion of the crosses; moreover, some of them are known to have been compiled from chronicles of still earlier date. Mr.

Abel has also, since the publication of his book, adduced certain evidence as inferential!y confirmatory of Walsinghain’s statement, from the “Annales de Dunstable” which date about the time the crosses were erected; but this particular evidence appears to us far from conclusive. Assuredly, however, it would not be difficult to frame a theory which should be reconcilable with the rendering of the accounts to the Queen’s executors, and yet which should give Edward the credit of having erected the memorials. The fact of his embarrassment might even be used as an explanation of his appearing indirectly as an executor, as well as an argument on the opposite side. But, without dwelling on any far-fetched assumption, we have only to suppose that the King was the residuary legatee of his wife’s will, than which nothing is more probable, and that the residue which came to the King was disbursed on memorials — which, surely, is also highly probable —and no obstacle whatever is opposed by the “accounts” to our retention of the time-honoured popular conviction.

On the other hand, it is but fair to admit that suflicient time had elapsed for one of the many errors imported from popular tradition into the old chronicles, and often disproved by contemporary records, to have crept into Wnlsingham’s compilation. There is, for example, strong contemporary inferential evidence against the popular legend of Queen Eleanor sucking the poison from the King’s wound. Nor were testamentary directions in prospect of death for the funeral obsequies and the erection of votive testimonials of piety, memorial crosses, or whatever should invite a prayer for the soul of the departed, at all contrary to precedent or the spirit of the time. The Queen to whose memory, as we love to think, was erected, as tributes of a husband’s affection, those crosses which have supplied the “motive” for the magnificent Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, was, there is every reason to believe, well deserving to be held in remembrance equally by her lord and neoplc.

Eleanor, or more correctly, if you will, Alianora Castile, the daughter of Ferdinand III., and sister of Alphonso, King of Castile, was married to Prince Edward, at Burgos, in 1254, several years before either were, according to modern notions, “of age” throughout thirty-six years of wedded life, during which bore she fifteen children, Eleanor “the Faithful” seems to have been a pattern of wifehood; when queen, a model of gracious and beneficent sovereignty (for she was universally beloved); and, in short, the very ideal of a “woman of the time.” Whether the story is or is not true of her sucking the poison from the wound her husband received from the assassin’s blade at Acre, she certainly nursed the Prince till he recovered, and attended him during the whole of his absence from England with the Crusaders.

It is recorded of her that, when remonstrated with on account of her avowed intention to accompany Edward to the Holy Land, she replied, “Nothing should put asunder those whom God had joined; the road to Heaven is as short from Syria as from England.” Indeed, she shared the cares and perils of all Edward’s expeditions. She accompanied him to Wales, and she had followed him towards Scotland to the place of her death. Eight days did the King watch beside that death-bed; one month succeeding her interment did he live in strict seclusion at Ashbridge, whence he addressed to the Abbot of Clugny a letter beseeching the prayers of him and his order in terms whicn even now cannot be read without emotion. Besides the monuments of (as we believe) Edward's affection already mentioned, there were two others — both by the able sculptor, Torrel: one in the monastery of the Blackfriars, which contained her heart; and another over her viscera in Lincoln Cathedral. Such was the Queen, one of whose richest memorials was at Charing.

It may be mentioned incidentally that, although crosses of various kinds were very common in the Middle Ages, and date from the earliest centuries of the Christian era, very few such monuments are known to have marked the course of a funeral procession. Among the rare instances are the crosses erected at the resting-places of the bearers of the body of “St. Louis” from Paris to St. Denis. It is a significant fact that these crosses must, in all probability, have been seen by Edward and his Queen. But of such crosses that at Charing was probably the most remarkable. Its erection took three years; and, whilst the cross at Waltham only cost £95, that at Charing cost about £650, which, allowing for the great difference in the value of money, was a very large sum; and this was exclusive of the cost of materials, these being for the most part Caen stone, marble being, however, used for the steps and some portions of the structure. On the destruction of the cross, “part of the stones,” says Lilley, “were converted to pave before Whitehall.

I have seen knife-hafts made of some of the stones, which, being well polished, looked like marble.” The work was begun under the direction of Master Richard de Crundale, “cementarius,” who, dying in 1293, left the rest of the work to be completed by Roger de Crundale. Richard de Crundale was also much employed on the works then in progress at the Palace of Westminster. The reader will remark some curious analogies between the Crundales of the thirteenth and the Barrys of the nineteenth century. The sculuture of the Eleanor Crosses at Waltham, Northampton, and elsewhere was executed by William de Ireland and Alexander L’Imaginator, and it is recorded that the last-named artist received five marks in part payment for the statues of Charing-cross. The public must feel grateful to the Charing-cross Hotel Company for their liberality in seeking to rescue from oblivion so interesting a monument of bygone times. And even on the low commercial ground we think the shareholders have no cause for complaint. Whatever attracts visitors to the terminus and heightens the prestige of the railway and of the hotel as a place of resort must tend to increase the traffic.

Of course, for the sake of the old associations one would have preferred to have had the cross exactly on the original spot; and it would have been better seen there, though assorting less, perhaps, with the present genius loci of Trafalgar-square ( image ) than with the monster hotel by the same architect, but in a very different style, before which it actually stands. We trust that the apprehension of the cross being found in the way will not be realised. It is, however, a pity that a gigantic grille should have been erected as if for the express purpose, not only of dwarfing the hotel, but of concealing this beautiful monument from the millions who will pass it in the Strand. An attempt, and a very groundless one, as we think, has been made to fix the name of Hungerford on the new cross because it stands about a hundred yards east of the original site, and on ground once belonging to the Hungerford family.

A letter favouring the attempt has been written to us by a representative of that family, complaining also of our having, some time back in an archaeological article, disputed the claim of the Hungerfords to such a commemoration by “garbling for sinister purposes” the family records; by “intentionally” suppressing its brighter pages and alluding only to those “darkened with tragic mysteries and wild eccentricities,” such as the stories of the wife of the house executed at Tyburn, for, as our correspondent terms it, the “aristocratic crime” of poisoning her husband, and of the extravagant knight who paid five hundred guineas for a Court wig. But, surely, such facts are too notorious for us to be suspected of “sinister purposes” in repeating them. Moreover, although the market is swept away which was originally founded by Sir Edward Hungerford, and whose town house was hard by, yet the family name is preserved in the bridge with the construction of which Sir Edward had certainly nothing to do. To call the new monument “Hungerford Cross” would be simply to ignore and deny the whole object and intention of the “restoration.” As already intimated, Mr. Edward M.

Barry, A.R.A., was intrusted with the difficult task of restoration. It is, however, a restoration only in name; the authorities are so extremely scanty that an exact reproduction, even if desirable, was impossible. A very rough drawing in the Crowle Collection at the British Museum; another scarcely better at the Bodleian at Oxford, and a third of similar character in the library of the Society of Antiquaries, are all the authorities available for the work, if we except some few engravings of obvious incompleteness and inaccuracy. It is fortunate, however, that the drawings above named, though evidently by unpractised hands, agree thoroughly together, and may therefore be regarded as tolerably safe guides for the leading principals of the design, number of stories, and other important features; though their very rude and unfinished execution necessarily left it to the architect to work, as he has done most successfully, in the spirit merely of his predecessor, and to supply the details from his own invention and knowledge of and feeling for thirteenth-century Gothic.

Pennant, in the last edition of his “London,” describes the cross as octagonal, and specially states that there were eight figures, which is double the number on any of the other crosses. The new cross follows Pennant in these particulars, and agrees, in its leading features, with the drawings above referred to. Its height to the top of the gilt copper cross by which it is surmounted is about 70 ft. The structure is of Portland stone; but the panels and shields of the lower story and the diapered tracery of the upper story are of red Mansfield stone. The gables, also, over the lower story are panelled with red Mansfield stone and Aberdeen granite. The mixture of materials gives great richness without presenting too startling contrasts between different portions of the design. The sculpture has been ably executed from the architect’s designs, by Mr. Thomas Earp. The almost Greek ideal of the monumental efligy (a cast of which was obtained for the guidance of the sculptor) has been reproduced in the eight beautiful crowned statues of the Queen in the upper story of the cross.

Four of these statues represent Eleanor as Queen, with Royal insignia of crown, orb, and sceptre; and the other four with the attributes of a Christian woman — thus one figure carries a purse, out of which she distributes alms; another bread, for a similar purpose; whilst the others bear models of churches and religious houses, representing her as a foundress. At the feet of the statues are eight figures of kneeling angels, with their wings outstretched and their hands clasped as in prayer. The shields in the lower stage are accurately copied from those existing on the crosses of Waltham and Northampton and on the tomb, and consist of three varieties. The first displays three lions passant gurdant, first assumed as the Royal arms of England by King Henry II. in 1154, and which still forms part of the Royal arms as borne by Queen Victoria . The second is that of Ponthieu, which Queen Eleanor bore in right of her mother, and simply consists of three bendlets within a bordure. The third shield represents the arms of Castile and Leon, arranged quarterly; and this is especially interesting, as being the representation of the earliest known quartering of arms.

The arms of Castile are a castle, triple-towered; and those of Leon represent a lion rampant. The order of the shields accords with the arrangement at Northampton, Waltham, and Westminster. The diaper above the tracery in the lowest stage of the monument is composed of octagonal panels, richly undercut, representing alternately the castle of Castile and the lion rampant of Leon: the pillow and couch of tlie effigy has a similar design. The carving generally of the crockets, capitals, canopies, diapers, gargoyles, &c., agrees with the best remains of English thirteenth-century art; and much difficulty was, we are informed, experienced in finding carvers for the work in consequence of the now-fashionable prevalence of French and Italian types of decorative sculpture. A word of commendation is due to the contractor, Mr.

Field, for the excellent and painstaking manner in which he has performed a task by which, we understand, he has been considerably a loser, as will be readily understood (by those conversant with the value of such work) when we say that the whole cost of restoring one of the chefs-d’oeuvre of English Mediaeval art has not exceeded the sum of £1800. We are glad the monument is not “utilised” in any way : it is not a clock, a drinking-fountain, a telegraph, or postoffice. It is simply “Charing Cross.” In conclusion, it should be remarked that, although the enrichments are probably more elaborate than in the original cross, they always spring naturally out of the masses, and that these are distributed with the finest sense of the beautiful in proportion. Related Material Queen Eleanor of Castile - Queen of England - MedievalQueens.com Queen of England, 1271-1290 "Never in doubt of her regal status" Eleanor of Castile, who married King Edward I of England, was never content to play the part of a passive queen. For thirty-six years she was an active queen-consort to her equally strong-minded husband.

Daughter of King Ferdinand III of Castile, teen-aged Eleanor married Edward in 1254, whereupon Castile yielded to Edward's father, King Henry III, its claims to the disputed French territory of Gascony. For eighteen years Eleanor was queen-in-waiting, for Henry III did not die until 1272. She accompanied her husband on diplomatic missions and military excursions. She went with him on Crusade from 1270 to 1273. When criticized for such an unwomanly adventure, she said: "Nothing must part them whom God has joined, and the way to heaven is as near if not nearer from Syria as from England or my native Spain." Though the Crusade was not very productive militarily, it was for the royal family: during those three years Eleanor bore Edward two children. Edward acceded in 1272. As queen of a hot-tempered king, Eleanor has been credited with calming Edward and with offering sound advice, which he often acted on. They were a devoted couple. During their thirty-six years of marriage she bore him sixteen children. Of these six survived to adulthood, including Edward's successor, Edward II.

Eleanor loved fine clothes, elegant possessions and land. She acquired vast estates during her queenship, while Edward was searching for new ways to squeeze revenues out of his subjects. Hence the popular bit of doggerel: The king desires to get our gold, The queen, our manors fair to hold. When she died, Edward was disconsolate. He wrote of a wife "whom living we dearly cherished, and whom dead we cannot cease to love." As a memorial he erected twelve monumental crosses, each marking a stopping-place of the procession that bore her body from Nottingham to London. The last of these "Eleanor crosses" was at Charing Cross in London. Several of them still stand. As seen in her effigies, Eleanor was a graceful, majestic queen. She clasps a scepter. Her expression is calm and self-assured, as befits a queen who never doubted her regal status. Learn more about Queen Eleanor of Castile: Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest, by Agnes Strickland. Vol. 1. London, 1851. Eleanor of Castile, by John Carmi Parsons. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1995.

The Court and Household of Eleanor of Castile in 1290, by John Carmi Parsons. Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto, 1977. The Queens of England, by Barbara Softly. Stein and Day, Briarcliff Manor, 1976. Westminster Abbey » Edward I and Eleanor of Castile Edward I and Eleanor of Castile Home > History > Royals > Edward I and Eleanor of Castile Born: 16 Jun, 1239 Burial Date: 27 Oct, 1307 Coronation Date: 19 Aug, 1274 Funeral Date: 27 Oct, 1307 Location in the Abbey: Shrine Type of memorial: Tomb Type of material: Marble Edward was born in the Palace of Westminster on 17 June 1239, the eldest child of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence, and was baptised in the Abbey. His nickname was "Longshanks", being 6 feet 2 inches tall, and he is chiefly remembered for his battles against the Welsh and the Scots and for his legal reforms.

In 1296 he brought to the Abbey the Stone of Scone, on which Scottish kings had once been crowned, and made a special oak Coronation Chair to enclose it. The Stone was returned to Scotland in 1996 and is displayed in Edinburgh Castle. Marriage In October 1254, aged just 15, he married Eleanor (Leonor), daughter of Ferdinand III, King of Castile and Leon, at Las Huelgas. It was a love match and the couple were inseparable until her death. They had four sons and eleven daughters, many of whom died young. John, Henry, Alphonso, Eleanor (Countess of Bar), Joan and Berengaria were buried in the Abbey. His second wife was Margaret, daughter of Philip III, King of France, and they were married at Canterbury cathedral in 1299.They had three children. Coronation Edward was on his way home from a Crusade when he heard of his father's death in 1272 but he did not hurry back and his coronation, with Eleanor, in the Abbey did not take place until 19 August 1274.

They were the first king and queen to be crowned during the same ceremony since the Norman Conquest. Burial Edward died on 7 July 1307 at Burgh on the Sands in Cumberland and his embalmed body was taken first to Waltham Abbey in Essex before being brought to Westminster for burial in the chapel of St Edward the Confessor on 27 October. His large grey marble tomb has no effigy or decoration and the, now rather faint, inscription: "Edwardus Primus Scotorum Malleus. Pactum Serva" (Edward the First, Hammer of the Scots. Keep Troth) was not painted on it until the 16th century. In 1774 his tomb was opened and inside a Purbeck marble coffin his body was found nearly entire, wrapped in a waxed linen cloth and wearing royal robes of red and gold with a crimson mantle. He had a gilt crown on his head and carried a sceptre surmounted by a dove and oak leaves in enamels. A painted figure, which may represent him, is on the wooden Sedilia in the Abbey, to the south of the High Altar.

Eleanor of Castile She was born about 1244 and died at Harby in Nottinghamshire in November 1290. Her body was embalmed and Edward erected stone memorial crosses at the places where her funeral procession rested on its way back to London, from Lincoln to Charing Cross. Her heart was laid at Blackfriars but the monument there was destroyed at the Dissolution of the monastery. She has a fine tomb in St Edward the Confessor's chapel at Westminster Abbey, by Richard Crundale, with a gilt bronze effigy, cast by goldsmith William Torel in 1291. She holds the string of her cloak in one hand but the sceptre in her other hand has now gone. The tomb slab and pillows beneath her head are covered with the emblems of Castile and Leon (castles and lions). On the ambulatory side is a carved iron grille of exquisite workmanship by Thomas of Leighton Buzzard. On the base of the tomb are remains of a painting showing outlines of figures including four pilgrims praying and a knight, Sir Otes de Grandison, Lord of Grandson (c.1238-1328), kneeling before the Virgin and Child.

He is identified by his armorial surcoat. Sir Otes was a close friend of Edward and accompanied him to the Holy Land (his tomb is in Lausanne cathedral, Switzerland). This painting may be by Master Walter of Durham. The original wooden canopy to the tomb has gone and the present one is in the Perpendicular style. The Norman-French inscription can be translated as "Here lies Eleanor, sometime Queen of England, wife of King Edward son of King Henry, and daughter of the King of Spain and Countess of Ponthieu, on whose soul God in His pity have mercy. Amen". Tomb dimensions in metres: length 3.02. width 1.10. height 1.65. Seal bag In the Abbey archives is a document of 1280 to which is attached an embroidered seal bag depicting the Royal Arms of England.

This is the only example so far known of wool inlaid work surviving from medieval England.[This will be on public display from 1 October 2016 at an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London] Photographs of the tombs, Sedilia painting and seal bag can be purchased from Westminster Abbey Library: library@westminster-abbey.org Further reading Edward I by Michael Prestwich, 1997 An account of the body of King Edward the First…on opening his tomb…in 1774 by Sir Joseph Ayloffe, 1775. Sketches of the body by William Blake are at the Society of Antiquaries in London.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004 Eleanor of Castile by Jean Powrie, 1990 Eleanor of Castile, Essays to commemorate the 700th anniversary of her death, edited by David Parsons, 1991 A Master Smith of the Middle Ages – Thomas of Leighton by Jane Geddes, Country Life August 1975 The polychromy at Westminster Abbey by Marie Louise Sauerberg in BAA Conference transactions "Westminster, the art....of the Royal Abbey", 2015 Medieval paintings at Westminster by W.R.Lethaby (about the Grandison painting), Proceedings of the British Academy 1927. Two royal seal bags from Westminster Abbey by Frances Pritchard in Textile History, 1989 Click on the images to enlarge Share

Question: How many Eleanor Crosses were erected by Edward the First?
Answer: Twelve